Program Notes – Mozart Masterpieces – April 10^th, 2011

Vesperae solennes de Confessore (K.339), or “Solemn Vespers”, was Mozart’s final composition for the Salzburg Cathedral in 1780, before departing his hometown in search of greater artistic opportunities in Vienna.  One of two settings Mozart made of the Vesper service, K.339 was probably intended for the celebration of St. Rupert, (the "confessor" of the title and a patron saint of Salzburg). 

The text consists of five Psalms and the Magnificat canticle (this afternoon we are singing four of the psalms.) Mozart's conservative employer, Archbishop Colloredo, liked his services short, and demanded that musical settings be straightforward with no repetition of the text. Despite these restrictions, Mozart's music abounds in exuberant imagination. Each movement seems an attempt by the composer to overcome Colloredo’s restrictions in a different way.

Dixit Dominus is high–energy exposition of the text by the chorus, with limited involvement by the solo quartet. As the opening part of the Vespers, it resembles an operatic overture in atmosphere; The Confitebor increases the involvement of the soloists, with brief opportunities for vocal display. The Laudate Dominum is one of Mozart’s masterpieces––his love of the soprano voice is amply displayed in long, luxurious lines over a simple, guitar–like accompaniment. In the Laudate Pueri, Mozart demonstrates his developing mastery of the counterpoint, writing an antique–style movement that presages his later fugal masterpieces in the Requiem.

The story of the uncompleted Requiem is well known: How a mysterious “messenger in gray” appeared at a dying Mozart’s doorstep with a commission to write a Mass for the Dead. Mozart completed about a third of the work, and provided the choral parts for most of the rest. Four of his pupils each attempted to complete the mass, so Mozart’s widow could receive the commission payment; the first three gave up, and it was left to his pupil Sussmayr (an extremely incompetent composer) to finish. The details of this convoluted story cannot be provided in this space, but the edition we perform today, by the Harvard musicologist, pianist, and composer Robert Levin, is the most satisfying “completion” of the work to date. In it, Mozart’s mastery of choral, solo, and orchestral writing shines through.